#1 The Manual For Life | The Gita Podcast I Jaya Row | Spiritual Podcast

1. The Gita: A Manual for Modern Living - गीता: आधुनिक जीवन जीने की नियमावली 2. Mastering the Mind through Ancient Wisdom - प्राचीन ज्ञान के माध्यम से मन पर विजय 3. The Inner Kurukshetra: Winning the Battle Within - आंतरिक कुरुक्षेत्र: भीतर की लड़ाई में विजय 4. Spirituality as Joyful Living - आनंदमय जीवन के रूप में आध्यात्मिकता 5. From Confusion to Clarity: The Science of Living - भ्रम से स्पष्टता तक: जीवन का विज्ञान https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM This video features Jaya Row in a podcast titled "The Manual For Life," where she explores the foundational wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita and its relevance to modern challenges. 1 The conversation begins with an analogy of a restless child who is only appeased when given "nourishing food" alongside toys, symbolizing our need for spiritual fulfillment amidst material pursuits [00:29]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=29 2 Jaya Row explains that the Gita is a "science of living" that requires modern interpretation to bridge a 5,000-year gap [04:16]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=256 3 She emphasizes that spirituality is not about somber self-denial but about finding inner joy, exemplified by Lord Krishna's cheerful personality [09:30]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=570 4 The discussion covers the importance of inquiry over blind faith, the three qualities of a student (surrender, questioning, and service), and the symbolic meaning of the Kurukshetra war as an internal battle between positive and negative tendencies [35:04]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=2104 5 The episode concludes with the "Shanti Mantra" and a reminder to lead life with the intellect guiding the emotions [43:06]. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=2586 6 The Concept of "Spiritual Food" [16:05]: Just as food is tasteless without salt, life becomes "insipid" and depressing without spiritual values. Material achievements are like "toys"; they provide temporary distraction, but only spiritual knowledge provides lasting contentment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=965 7 Spirituality vs. Religion [08:03]: Jaya Row highlights the "absolute freedom" in the Gita. It doesn't impose rigid rituals, dietary laws, or dress codes. Instead, it offers concepts to experiment with and integrate into one's own life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=483 8 The Internal Mahabharata [35:04]: The war is an allegory for the human psyche. The Pandavas represent our positive traits, while the more numerous Kauravas represent negative tendencies. Victory is possible only when we surrender our ego to the "Higher Self" (Krishna). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=2104 9 Dhritarashtra as the "Blind Mind" [36:52]: The blind King Dhritarashtra symbolizes the mind governed by irrational emotions and attachments. His sense of "mine and yours" (separating his sons from the Pandavas) is identified as the root cause of conflict. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=2212 10 Qualities of a True Learner [18:54]: Pranipata: Humble surrender/faith in the source of knowledge. Prashna: The spirit of inquiry; questioning until one truly understands. Seva: Service and contribution back to the cause or society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM&t=1134 1. जीवन का मार्गदर्शन: जया रो बताती हैं कि भगवद गीता केवल एक धार्मिक ग्रंथ नहीं, बल्कि जीवन जीने का एक विज्ञान है जो हमें मानसिक शांति और स्पष्टता प्रदान करता है। 2. आंतरिक युद्ध: कुरुक्षेत्र का युद्ध वास्तव में हमारे भीतर चलने वाले सही और गलत के बीच के संघर्ष का प्रतीक है, जहाँ हमें अपने विवेक (बुद्धि) को जागृत करना होता है। 3. बुद्धि बनाम मन: धृतराष्ट्र 'अंधे मन' का प्रतीक है जो मोह और आसक्ति में फँसा रहता है, जबकि कृष्ण उस 'बुद्धि' के प्रतीक हैं जो हमें सही दिशा दिखाती है। 4. आनंदमय आध्यात्मिकता: आध्यात्मिकता का अर्थ गंभीर या उदास होना नहीं है, बल्कि कृष्ण की तरह जीवन को खेल की तरह उल्लास और मुस्कान के साथ जीना है। 5. जिज्ञासा का महत्व: गीता हमें अंधविश्वास के बजाय प्रश्न करने और तर्क के माध्यम से सत्य तक पहुँचने के लिए प्रोत्साहित करती है। https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaZKa-H8VmM Full Transcript in English [Jaya Rao] There is a story of a child who throws tantrums, asks for a particular toy or a particular object. And when it is given to the child, the child is quiet for a while and then throws it and again throws a tantrum. And this goes on till the mother who has just stepped out returns home, and she does something that is fantastic. She gives the child what the child is asking for, but simultaneously gives it a morsel of food. Now the child is appeased. So we are like that child. There is a sense of unfulfillment, a sense of void, discomfort within us. And we think that that void will be filled by acquiring material things. But that is not the solution. So the solution is spiritual food. [Ajay] Namaste and welcome to the show on the Bhagavad Gita with Srimati Jaya Rao. My name is Ajay and I'm your host for the show. The idea of the show is to explore the wisdom and the lessons that the Gita has to offer in our daily lives. And who better to learn these lessons from than Jaya ji. Jaya ji has dedicated her life over 50 years to the research and practice of the subject. Our hope is to draw on her wisdom and experience and take those lessons into our daily lives. Jaya ji, it's so nice to have you on the show, especially for me to be your son and to be on the show together with you. It's a real privilege. What is your vision for the show and how are you feeling about it? [Jaya Rao] I'm very excited about it because in the past when knowledge was transmitted from one generation to the other, the teacher realigned the message for the younger generation. And so they could easily understand and relate to it. But in the recent past, when I mean by that the past few centuries, it kind of got calcified. So it boiled down to just recitation of the verses and it was relegated to priests. So the need is to revitalize it and represent it in a manner that the younger generation can understand. Like even in one generation it makes a difference. For instance, you may have noticed that when your daughter speaks, she may use certain terms that we are not familiar with. So I for one have to ask, what does that mean? Now if this difference can happen in one generation, how much must it be over 5,000 years? So it needs this and there's a need for it and I'm glad that we are in a position to at least attempt to bridge this gap. I am also particularly happy that you have taken the initiative and so in a way I'm playing second fiddle. So I'm very relaxed doing this show. [Ajay] Life doesn't come with a manual, right? But it comes with a lot of questions. In a sense, how does a text that is so many centuries and thousands of years old, how are those lessons relevant for us today? [Jaya Rao] See, because the message of the Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta is a science. It's not just an opinion. So just like any other science, it never gets old. It never gets outdated. The only thing is that because it's 5,000 years old and it is in a language that we don't understand, it needs not just translation, but interpretation. And once that is done, it is as relevant today as AI. [Ajay] In terms of your personal journey, what was it that drove you towards spirituality and the Bhagavad Gita? [Jaya Rao] I was lucky that I had it in my upbringing. My maternal grandparents were deeply into spirituality. My grandfather was a doctor but very into Vedanta. And he conveyed it to us by way of stories and incidents that made it so exciting for us to listen to. It wasn't like a lecture. But these messages stayed with us. And then I was fortunate enough to be taken to Swami Chinmayanand's lecture when I was seven, my mother took me there. I didn't understand a word of it, but the impact was huge. I still remember that scene. So like Shabana Azmi said recently, for you to live a full life, a child must be exposed to theater. The child may not understand, must be exposed to classical music, may not necessarily relate to it, to poetry, to art, to everything in life. Because otherwise you restrict yourself to just messages on Instagram. [Ajay] You mean the finer things, right? [Jaya Rao] Yes. So I was fortunate to have been exposed to all of this actually. [Ajay] So having understood that, is it not really important that the knowledge of the Gita is shared with the younger generation at a time when they can benefit from its wisdom? Because what is happening today is that the only time you end up listening to the Gita being chanted is at a funeral. So how can we ensure that the younger generation also benefits from this knowledge? [Jaya Rao] Yes, typically this education must be started when the child is seven, eight, when they start asking questions. We must have the answers. Now what's happening is parents don't have the answers, schools discourage it. And so they are left as it is. Plus the education system itself is so toxic in a way that it discourages questions. It actually discourages thinking. So they learn to just go by rote. [Ajay] One of the beautiful things about the Gita is the universality of its lessons, right? So irrespective of your age, your faith, your outlook, your gender, your race, there are eternal truths that it speaks about and it's not about rituals or rules. There are no do's and don'ts in the Gita. Isn't that one of the really beautiful things about it? [Jaya Rao] It's amazing. I remember when I was a child and I was first exposed to the Bhagavad Gita, the first thing that appealed to me was the absolute freedom. So you were not told to do a particular thing, follow a particular ritual, wake up at a particular time or be vegetarian, non-vegetarian, nothing. You were just exposed to ideas, concepts that you had to think about and then adopt them or integrate them into your life, experiment with them. That's the main thing. And then when you saw it work for yourself, you kind of adopted it. [Ajay] In a sense, isn't spirituality and by that also the Gita, is it not an essential ingredient for life? I mean, in a sense the way I see it is that it's almost like what salt is to food is what spiritual knowledge and the Bhagavad Gita is to our lives. [Jaya Rao] True. Because just as without salt, food is insipid, even the best food. Similarly, you find that life becomes boring, depressing, devoid of any cheer or joy when you don't have this exposure to these values. And one of the most important characteristics of a spiritually evolved person is the sheer joy, cheer, lightheartedness and mischief that epitomizes Krishna's personality. His personality itself conveys that. Nobody can think of Krishna without a smile on the face. So that is what spirituality is. [Ajay] Exactly, and it's not something that's serious and somber and about ocher robes and a long beard and all of that. I think what Lord Krishna embodies is that sense of joy and vivaciousness which is what spirituality lends to our lives, right? I mean, I think there's this incorrect notion that you know, you have to be all very serious and zen like, but that's that's not really how it is, right? [Jaya Rao] No, not at all. In fact, this is the impression that people have. The other day someone told me, oh, spiritual life is so boring. I said, says who? And that is why this concept that spiritual life is a life of self-denial and boredom and almost like being imprisoned in your own concepts should be removed. It's not about the clothes that you wear. It's not about what you deny yourself. I mean, people say, you're spiritual, you can't go to a movie. You can't wear perfume, you can't wear bright clothes. Who says that? [Ajay] It also highlights the importance of separating the teacher from the teachings, right? My job as a student would be to follow the lessons and the wisdom of the Gita rather than follow the teacher's habits. Just because the teacher wears certain clothes or behaves in a certain manner. And if I ape that, that doesn't necessarily mean that my spiritual progress, that doesn't define my spiritual progress. Is that not right? [Jaya Rao] Really, because nowadays you find it's mixed up a lot. Nowadays you find students becoming absolute clones of the teacher, which is not true. It is not what happens physically or externally. It is how you emulate the values that the teacher lives. And the manner in which the person lives will be different depending on the nature of the person. Like even in our scriptures, you had a Sudama who lived in poverty. You had a Janaka who lived in absolute luxury and opulence. Now which one do you follow? You had Krishna who had 16,000 wives. You had Rama who vowed that he would not have only one wife. Again, which one do you follow? So you don't follow the externals, you follow the internal vision. [Ajay] There are as many spiritual paths as there are people because you're different from me, I'm different from a third person, that third person is different from someone else. That's what really appeals to me about the Gita is that there are no dictats and it doesn't and it's non-binary in a sense. It's not either zero or one. There are many hues and colors of spirituality that are equally spiritual and equally valid. Your path is as valid as my path even though it may be different, right? I think that's such a beautiful aspect of what the Gita brings. Isn't it? [Jaya Rao] Yes, Krishna actually says it in the seventh chapter. He says there are many paths but all of them lead to me. Meaning all of them lead to spiritual evolution. And also he says, I accept the non-believer, the atheist, the agnostic, everybody as mine. So in fact, I would say a non-believer is a better student than a believer who believes without questioning. [Ajay] Because the non-believer will always question. [Jaya Rao] Question. Yes. Absolutely. But coming back to this importance of spirituality in our lives. We've said it's like what salt is to food, right? In fact, in a sense without spirituality, life seems quite hollow in a sense, right? Because from what I've seen, you get caught up in the cycle of acquisition. And the moment you acquire a certain level of something or you unlock a certain achievement, then you move on to the next acquisition or next achievement. And then we end up stuck in this cycle of what I've heard in Sanskrit is bhoga tyaga. So you achieve and enjoy and then suddenly you recoil and then you're just it's almost like we're stuck on a treadmill and then when you look back, when we look back at our lives, those achievements are pale into insignificance, right? At some level. [Jaya Rao] See, it's like this. There's a story of a child who throws tantrums, asks for a particular toy or a particular object. And when it is given to the child, the child is quiet for a while and then throws it and again throws a tantrum. And this goes on till the mother who has just stepped out returns home, and she does something that is fantastic. She gives the child what the child is asking for, but simultaneously gives it a morsel of food. Now the child is appeased. So we are like that child. There is a sense of unfulfillment, a sense of void, discomfort within us. And we think that that void will be filled by acquiring material things. But that is not the solution. So what Vedanta or the Bhagavad Gita tells us is, fine, you want certain things, toys in the world. By all means acquire them. But don't forget to eat that spiritual food. Don't forget to have that little bit of spiritual food which then appeases you. So this is what Vedanta does. It treats us exactly like the mother treats the child. You want money, fine. I'll give you a formula by which you can earn money. You want success, you want fame, you want whatever it is that you want, you can gain all of that with the principles of the Gita. But alongside it gives you spiritual food which then keeps you in a state of contentment right through. You don't have to wait till you get to the end. [Ajay] The spiritual journey is a path of inquiry. It is not a path of blind belief. And it's so beautifully portrayed in the Gita where Lord Krishna where actually Arjuna is asking questions of Lord Krishna. And Lord Krishna answers and then he questions Arjuna questions further. And it's so different from how religion today is. You know, the way things are in the world today, right? In terms of religion, education, it's almost like questioning is taboo. [Jaya Rao] Taboo. [Ajay] Yeah. So isn't this a beautiful aspect of the Gita that is often not acknowledged enough? [Jaya Rao] Yes, actually Krishna waits for a whole chapter and 10 verses for Arjuna to ask a question. So the tradition in our culture is that the guru never just gives knowledge. The guru becomes a repository of knowledge like a lake fills with water and people come and draw. So it's not a formality, but you have to have a student who's receptive and the receptivity is characterized by questions. So unless the question, the yearning is there in the student, there's no point giving knowledge. [Ajay] Now when you speak about spiritual student, what are the qualities of a spiritual student that we should kind of develop as seekers? [Jaya Rao] The Bhagavad Gita gives three qualifications which you see in life in general. One is pranipata, which means surrender. Like forget spiritual, even if you go to a doctor or a lawyer, the basic faith must be there that I am going to a person who has the knowledge to alleviate my suffering and that he will do it in good faith. If that is not there, there is no relationship. [Ajay] So there has to be some certain amount of due diligence in a sense. [Jaya Rao] Yes. You do your due diligence, but after that surrender. You don't question the bonafides. Second, it is not blind faith. Prashna is very important. When you don't understand, you must question. Not that you are questioning his bonafides. [Ajay] Yeah. You are questioning with the attitude that I don't understand and therefore I'm asking. [Jaya Rao] And third, very important is seva, service. Once you benefit from anything, you must contribute to the cause. Isn't this something that's missing in Indian society? [Ajay] Um you know, I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about the importance, the actually the difference that especially in a democracy, right? We have we are entitled with certain rights. But we never think about our obligations. Right? And yes, I have a right to this, I have a right to that. And I feel like we the one of the key issues with society today is that we have become a rights driven society rather than an obligation driven society because once you operate out of a sense of obligation, you don't seek to do the minimum possible, right? You seek to serve, which is what seva, which is what you're talking about, isn't that? [Jaya Rao] Yes. Is that true? Today, forget society, even in a family, every child has this sense of entitlement that this is what my parent must do for me. How about what you should do for the parent? At least feel gratitude. You may not be able to do anything, but at least that sense of gratitude for all that the parents has done for you. And that is something that is inborn in some people, but it must be cultivated. And it can be cultivated. How? Only by the parent living it. That's a big ask. Yes, it is, but that's the only way. If the parent is constantly looking at this is my right, this is my entitlement. This is what my in-laws or parents should do for me. It's never going to work. [Ajay] That's why a text like the Bhagavad Gita is so important, right? I mean that is it's something that will always give us a true north. [Jaya Rao] Absolutely. See, parents come with complaints. There's a lady in Houston who came to me saying, I'm constantly fighting with my 17 year old son. I said, if you're fighting with your 17 year old son, who will you not fight with? And if you see a problem in the child, it's not the child's fault, it's yours. Every parent should look within and say, where have I gone wrong? You know? And how can I correct that? [Ajay] No, that's great. I think really important thoughts and it sets the tone as we begin, as we embark on our study of the Gita. Is there a nice opening chant that we should begin our study with and not just this time, but something we can chant every time when we begin our study of the Gita? [Jaya Rao] Yes. In fact, before this tradition started in the Upanishads, before any spiritual discourse or dialogue, both the teacher and the taught recited or at least had an invocation, it's called an invocation where it instill this concept of humility that we are and that we are about to begin something very important and a sense of surrender. So the common one is Om Sahana Vavatu. Should we begin? [Ajay] Sure, shanti. [Jaya Rao] Om Sahana Vavatu Sahana Bhunaktu Saha Veeryam Karavavahai Tejasvinavadhitamastu Mavidvishavahai Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi [Ajay] It's such a calming influence and without even understanding the meaning. So would you be able to take us through the meaning so then it'll have even more weight for us? [Jaya Rao] Sure. Om is the universal symbol of the transcendental God or that state of realization, enlightenment. It has both a devotional appeal with the sound itself lends a peace, but it also has a deeper philosophical meaning. We're not getting into that now. Then it says Om Sahana Vavatu. May we both be protected. It is this humility where both the teacher and the taught understand that everything is not in our hands and that we are dependent on the environment. So because we are embarking on a very important project, let the environment protect us from in those days there were wild animals around. It was in the Himalayan valleys. There could have been a snowstorm or rain or whatever. Om Sahana Vavatu, Sahana Bhunaktu. May we enjoy this exercise. And it's so important because nowadays education has become drudgery. [Ajay] It's a chore almost. [Jaya Rao] It's a total chore. Painful exercise. But when you approach the spiritual path with the right attitude, it is invigorating. It's so exciting and it's enjoyable. But then you don't stay with the enjoyment. Let us exert, let us put in that effort because there is that it's almost like a marathon race intellectually because you have to put in effort to set aside your concepts and embrace a new way of looking at life. That requires effort. And what should be the result? Let the result of our exercise be brilliant. Tejasvinavadhitam. And then the last is very interesting. Let us not become argumentative. In any intellectual exercise, there is a difference of opinion between two. So the student must understand that I don't know enough. And maybe I'm unable to understand what the teacher is saying, so there is a difference of opinion. The teacher must understand that the student must wade through his own confusion and arrive at the truth, so he's patient. And then Om again the goal. Shanti, Shanti, Shanti is repeated thrice. The first Shanti is for cosmic disturbances like thunder, lightning. And in the modern scenario, it's the cell phone. The second Shanti is for external disturbances. Could be a wild animal, it could be noise. And the third is internal. Something may be bothering you. Something you may have forgotten or it could be a stomach ache, whatever. And then you're ready. Also, the invocation helps you to get your intellect back from external preoccupations to be available for this internal study. And it's a beautiful thing to start with. [Ajay] So now coming to the first chapter of the Gita, it's called Arjuna Vishada Yoga or the yoga of Arjuna's dejection, right? Is that right? [Jaya Rao] Yes. So it's really about Arjuna ranting on about how he really isn't too keen on fighting this war. But I'm taking a step back. Can you tell us how someone so capable, so skilled, the greatest warrior of his generation probably, people he just the very mention of his name would send shivers through their enemy's spine. And here we have someone who has trained all his life for this moment, ready to put down his weapons. So it's like Messi training for the World Cup and saying in the final against France he's like, you know what, I'm not going to I'm going to step away. I want to be on the bench. It doesn't make sense, right? How has a guy who is so good and so strong and so capable reached this state? [Jaya Rao] A student who has studied 100% and has performed brilliantly in the past. I have known a friend of mine in college, she was brilliant in math and she actually failed in the exam. Final undergrad. So there are instances like this. Now why does it happen or how does it happen? See, as long as your intellect is in place, you have analyzed the situation, you have come to a conclusion, you know that this is the path of action that I need to take. All that is in place. Now in Arjuna's case, what happens is that he asks Krishna to drive him between the two armies so that he may see those who are ready to fight for Duryodhana. Please Duryodhana. Now Krishna wants to correct this and says, it is not for you to pass judgment on others. So he carries, he takes the chariot straight in front of Bhishma and Drona, two of the most wonderful characters depicted in the Mahabharata. And what he wants to convey is, here are two people who are not there to please Duryodhana. They are there just to do their duty. So you also Arjuna just do your duty. Don't sit there passing judgment on people. But it has a totally different effect because Arjuna's mind starts playing up. [Ajay] He gets swayed. [Jaya Rao] He gets swayed by emotion. Bhishma was the patriarch whom he respected, loved, adored, who gave up the kingdom for which these guys are fighting. Duryodhana was his teacher, his guru. In those days they had utmost respect and regard for the guru. [Ajay] You mean Dronacharya. [Jaya Rao] Sorry, Dronacharya. Dronacharya was the guru that Arjuna absolutely adored and respected. And who taught him archery, not physics and chemistry. And he was using this skill to kill him. So this was just too much for him because the mind started operating. And he decided and he started. See this is what happens. When the mind wants to do something or is very powerfully motivated, it holds the intellect hostage and does not allow the intellect to think independently outside of what the mind wants. That's exactly what he did. And he started justifying not fighting the war. And in the end, he laid down his bow and arrow and said, I will not fight. That was a complete breakdown. But with us, it happens partially. So a person who's an excellent chef who wants to impress his guest makes mistakes, burns one dish, puts extra salt, so on and so forth. A student makes mistake, can't even read the question paper properly. It swims before his eyes. A person who goes for a job interview messes up badly. Not because they don't know because the mind has overtaken. So he in a way signifies every one of us. And then Krishna's message to him is Krishna's message to us. [Ajay] So it's always easy when you see another person in that situation. But when we ourselves find ourselves in such situations, it's not easy to navigate those scenarios and there is not always a Lord Krishna available to us. So how do we navigate these scenarios when we face them? [Jaya Rao] This is it. This is like buying insurance. When you buy a car, it comes with insurance, right? Because you don't know when what will happen. Similarly, before you learn to live before you start living life, you must know how to live life. So this knowledge must be taught at a young age before you start making decisions, before you know, you mess up your life. So that your intellect is in place, it's fortified, it knows exactly what to do. But this is not happening. [Ajay] So that's why the early intervention, the early exposure to the knowledge is critical. [Jaya Rao] The earlier it is, the better. [Ajay] So that's about Arjuna, right? Now, looking at the backdrop of a spiritual conversation, I mean, a war seems like an odd place to have a spiritual discourse, right? Can you explain that kind of dichotomy to us? [Jaya Rao] Yes. See, the Mahabharata is an external depiction of what is happening inside us. So it kind of takes the inside story and dramatizes it for us because it's difficult to see what's happening inside. So the Pandavas represent the positive tendencies in us. The Kauravas larger in number represent the negative tendencies and the negative tendencies are always stronger. So their armies were more than the Pandavas. So that and there is a constant battle between what you think is right and what you want to do. In this battle, if you surrender to the higher represented by Krishna, Arjuna surrendered to Krishna, then you can win victory over your negative tendencies and your life is set. So this battle is inside. It's raging inside the hearts of each one of us. It's not something that happened 5,000 years ago. And then once you understand it like that, everything makes sense. [Ajay] It's true. It's like an inside out, like that Disney movie inside out. It's like a methodological inside out version for us. [Jaya Rao] Yes. [Ajay] Now when we come to, we'll dive into verse one of chapter one. And here it's Dhritarashtra, the blind king who is the father of the Kauravas who speaks first. And he says in verse one, he says, oh, Sanjay, assembled on the holy field of Kurukshetra and desirous of battle, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do? So what can we draw from this first verse, Jaya ji? [Jaya Rao] You know, Dhritarashtra is blind. He represents the mind. The mind is blind, right? You fall in love with someone. People can't ask you, what did you see in her? [Ajay] So when you say mind, you mean emotions. [Jaya Rao] Emotions. The arena of emotions, likes and dislikes, irrational part of you. So it's blind. Now this blind mind sees mine and yours as separate. And this sense of separateness is the cause of all the battles in life. The inability to see oneness with the other person. You know, there is an actual story. It's not a story, it's an actual happening. Two brothers in Mumbai fighting like mad over assets and things like business. And they decided to appoint an arbitrator, each one. So they fixed a time and a day and the younger brother went. The older brother said, where is your arbitrator? He said, you are my arbitrator. Because I can't think of anyone who will take care of my interest better than you. The discussion ended right there. The separation never took place. So if only Dhritarashtra was able to see that both parties were mine, the battle would never have happened. [Ajay] Yeah. So that's the first learning to us. Even when you're caught in a battle, if you look at things from the other person's point of view, you win. [Ajay] Also when he says my sons and the sons of Pandu, does that not reflect his attachment and how attachment can completely distort your vision? [Jaya Rao] Yes, of course. This reflects blind you rather. This reflects throughout the Gita. He's unable to see the evil that his own son is up to, his sons are up to. And that is another reason why he's not able to stop the war. Throughout Sanjay who's the commentator makes desperate attempts to get Dhritarashtra to call off the battle. But it fails because of his attachment. [Ajay] That's a lot of wisdom and knowledge for us to digest and I think we've come towards the end of today's episode. Is there a nice chant that we could end every show with? And if you could take us through that and then explain that to us once, that'd be really helpful. [Jaya Rao] Yes. Traditionally we end with another invocation from the Upanishads. We'll do that? [Ajay] Yeah, sure. [Jaya Rao] Om Poornamada Poornamidam Poornaat Poornamudachyate Poornasya Poornamadaya Poornamewa Vashishyate Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi [Ajay] Could you run us through the meaning of that invocation, please? [Jaya Rao] Yes, this is a very, very profound invocation. Om as we said earlier represents the goal. Then it says Poornamada means that is whole, complete, infinite. The world, the universe, the manifested world is also infinite. You can't conceive of an end to the universe. When this infinite arises out of that infinite, what remains is infinite. So it kind of expands your mind and you say, if all of this is infinite, what am I worried about my little problems in life? They're not worth considering. Yeah, so true. And the problem actually the issues with us is our petty mindedness. We think of little stupid insignificant things and fight over them. If only you were able to see it in a larger context. Like a 78 year old man having a legal problem fighting a court case with his nieces or whatever over money. And you feel like telling him, how long do you think you're going to live? Are you going to take the money with you? Instead of fighting, take whatever comes to you, whatever they're willing to give is more than enough for you to live a luxurious life. You know? That perspective. So this mantra puts the whole life into perspective. And it's nice to end with that. [Ajay] Exactly, I was about to say that it was just such a nice way to end the episode. And are there some key takeaways you could leave us with for today? [Jaya Rao] Dhritarashtra who represents the mind. We all have a mind. We also have the intellect. Both play very important roles in our lives. But what is most important is the intellect must be the guiding factor in our lives. Yes, we must have emotions, very fine emotions, but even the best emotion needs guidance. So if we only make an attempt to give the intellect the importance it deserves and learn to have it in place, 90% of our problems will be solved. [Ajay] And also the importance of having just a little bit of exposure, that little bit of salt in the food of our lives. [Jaya Rao] Absolutely, that is so important. [Ajay] And in a way, spirituality is like adding the one before all the zeros because if you don't have the one in place, then no matter how many zeros you have, it'll still amount to zero, right? [Jaya Rao] Yes. Nothing is worth it. [Ajay] So that's the zeros are like the material world in a sense without spirituality. Okay, great. Thank you so much Jaya ji. It's been a great start and I'm sure there's a lot more for us to delve into and learn and experiment with and put into practice in our daily lives. Thank you so much. Thank you so much viewers for joining us for this first episode of the show on the Bhagavad Gita with Srimati Jaya Rao. I hope that it's been a great start for your journey as well as mine. So please do definitely like, subscribe and share this show with your friends. It's a weekly show. So there'll be a new episode out next week. And we look forward to seeing you very soon in a few days. Thank you so much and have a great day.